Letters to the Editor: A new teamed called the... Orange-skins?

Outdoor School is an incredible program and by passing Measure 99, Oregon voters gave an incredible gift to future generations. But Measure 99 didn't just happen. It took four years of dedicated effort by volunteers statewide to push this issue: forming a statewide coalition with the help of the Gray Family Foundation, writing and lobbying for the legislation creating a State role in supporting outdoor education and then collecting over 100,000 signatures to put Measure 99 on the ballot.

A real tribute to the saying that a small group of dedicated people can change the world. We should never forget that the things that make Oregon special—our public beaches, recycling, bicycling, farm and forest protection—all started with ordinary people.

Yay, Oregon! Go Outdoor School!

— Rex Burkholder

Bend Westside Gas—It Stinks!

Its truly remarkable. As a newer resident to Bend, I must admit it is amazing how I keep reading that the city has inadequate funding to fix the potholes and keep up the condition of the streets. And yet, over here on the Westside, south of Tumalo, we have been plagued for five months of first fixing sewer lines, then gas lines and it's still not finished and the roads are worse!

Does anyone check this work or is responsible for timeliness of these projects? This should have been done in half the time and yet I'm sure we keep paying overtime to these workers who could care less about the businesses and residents in the area.

Better bud is grown here. Higher elevation and more stressful weather on the outdoor crops can increase all the goodies the plant has to offer (and) as far as culture and ease of access, then you're, right California wins that.

I can't wait to see state lines open up and regulation drop away for real legalization. The best is yet to come!

— Mike Popplewel

It is and always will be SF, not San Fran, or Frisco...btw, the story should also cover loss of crop in Napa and Sonoma counties. It is a setback for economy.

No matter how you arrive at what, or which is "better"...like wine, or craft beer, the best of anything is always subjective.

— Angela Carmen

Augmentation or Going Flat?

I read a recent article about women "going flat" after a mastectomy. To me, this is a wise choice as there is a risk of after effects in reconstruction.

Women need to understand that the fact that she is alive is what matters, not the image of her body. Any man worth his salt should accept her as a beautiful person with a great mind and a loving spirit.

— Richard Asadoorian

Musings on Makeovers for NFL Mascots? One Reader Contemplates the "Washington Orange-skins."

The other day while watching pro-football I marveled that a team today could still be named for a racial skin color. Someone suggested that Washington could change its mascot to the "Orange-skins" and put a logo of Donald Trump on the helmet. That would be politically correct, since it's based on a cosmetics miscalculation, not the color god gave him.

"Orange-skins" checks all the boxes: What more menacing, industrious (albeit white-collar) relevant image for our nation's capital than an aloof, belligerent, climate change-denying ex-executive with one finger on the nuclear button?

Some might say that Trump's silhouette on the side of a helmet would be too polarizing, but that's not bad for business—ask- the networks who raked it in covering his campaign.

The original iconic associations of many NFL mascots have faded. More steel now comes from abroad than from Pittsburgh. The meat packing namesake of the Green Bay Packers disappeared in 1943. Most Americans will never see an eagle or falcon in the wild, much less a ram, bronco or bear. Panthers are extinct in Carolina and jaguars in Florida.

But Orange-skins isso today.

Makeovers for other NFL mascots might offer a compelling injection of looming menace, modern industry (or lack thereof), current regional relevance, and controversy.

Here's a shortlist; the Philadelphia Frackers (could get confusing against the Packers), the New York 1 percent (or Giants of Industry), the Detroit Layoffs (who never quite make the playoffs), the Seattle Tsunami, the Minnesota Nuclear Winter, the Pittsburgh Concussion (in memory of Mike Webster), the Arizona Swelter, the Miami Inundation, the New Orleans (Storm) Surge, the Los Angeles Wildfire, the Denver Drought, and the San Francisco Revolutionaries (insert here Colin Kaepernick, Steve Jobs, or Flower Children—something for almost every West coast demographic).

Houston should change back to the Oilers, given the black stuff's present and projected contributions via carbon emissions and campaign donations to so many of the other mascots. And when Oakland moves the Raiders to land-locked Las Vegas, there are almost endless possibilities, although Trump himself has shown that you don't have (to be near the) ocean to be a pirate.

— Matt Orr

Letter of
the Week

Matt: Taking a knee for you, buddy. And just because my mom is reading this, go Nuclear Winter! #Skol